Shadowbolt Reformation
by Ghrathryn
Summary: Finding more of the less spectacular evils growing beyond the Equestrian guard's ability to cope, Star-Dancer and Princess Luna start putting together a team of Pegasi to shadow the Wonderbolts and investigate the crimes that the guard cannot.
1. Chapter 1

This story is a follow on to Dancing through the Night, which I'm still working on, I haven't forgotten it. It's duplicated over on Deviant Art and the standard disclaimer applies, namely that all characters from the series belong to the series creators. In this case there's an additional disclaimer that the main five Shadowbolts: Nightshade, Stratus, Blueball Blitz, Starry Skies and Charger belong to YoorPoorick over on DA as he's the one that drew the picture of them that sparked this fic.

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

Crouched on the top of the castle in Canterlot, the black dragon frowned as he watched half a dozen Pegasus ponies flying around an arena down in the city area. He knew the moves, loops, corkscrews, weaves and others. All very showy, all designed to impress the audience by making them flashy, of course what the audience didn't realise for the most part was that every single move in those stunt-ponies' repertoires was either designed to be evasive and throw enemies off their tails, avoiding attacks from various angles, or designed to confuse enemies while moving in on them so that they could launch an attack.

Of course, in this land that he had been living in for two years now, war was the last thing on anyone's mind. Most likely the performers didn't think about the original purpose of the moves they were performing, whether from choice or because they weren't told about the main reason they learned things. He narrowed his eyes, watching as one pony joined the original six in the air, this one with a dark blue mane and tail and a female build from what he could see, being a half-dragon really enhanced his senses, particularly sight. He watched as the new pony started doing her routine.

Frowning, he watched the newcomer for a moment before taking to the wing himself. He had seen enough stunt routines to know how they were supposed to work and as he watched the new pony slide past one of the original ponies, almost crashing in to them as they pulled up sharply to avoid the newcomer, he got the idea that this was not supposed to be part of the performance. This newcomer was probably supposed to be one of the reserves, not one of the performers for today and she was putting on a show that shouldn't have been happening.

Swooping down towards the arena, he landed on the edge of the stands, watching as the blue-maned Pegasus nearly sideswiped Soarin', a light blue stallion that he had been introduced to a couple of months ago, the dragon frowned. That pony was dangerous to herself and to others. Flicking his tail, he scowled as he focused a shimmering sheet of energy across the arena, thankfully, he had recharged his abilities not too long ago by flying a storm, not his usual method, but it still worked well enough thanks to his heritage. As the energy sheet completed itself, he saw blue-mane crash into Spitfire, another of the Wonderbolts he knew by name, and saw her spin out of control before landing hard on the energy field. Fortunately she hadn't been too high above it at the time otherwise that landing would have broken bones, but even so, he could see how angry she was despite the mask she wore.

Walking over to her, he helped her to her hooves. "You injured, Spitfire?" He asked, watching her movements to see if there was any sign of pain in them.

Spitfire shook her head. "No, but Nightshade is going to get a good talking to when we get back to the hotel." She growled, stomping one hoof on the energy field. "She shouldn't even be out here, she's _supposed_ to be one of the reserve team, at least until she learns how to follow orders and play as part of a team."

The dragon nodded slightly before looking up at the other Wonderbolts. "I think we'd better get the skies cleared before she causes more accidents." He said, looking back at Spitfire.

Spitfire nodded before turning away from him and speaking softly, causing the other Wonderbolts — apart from the one apparently named Nightshade — to break off their performance and fly down to the ground near the arena. There were a few minutes of soft mumbles from her, followed by stamping hooves as Nightshade apparently refused to return to the ground before she turned back to the dragon. "I can't get Nightshade to land, she's refusing to obey orders, can you do anything, Star-Dancer?"

"I'll try, but I suggest you make sure everyone stay under shelter, just in case." Star-Dancer replied before leaping into the air. Pushing himself higher, he barely heard Spitfire warning him to be careful, not that he intended on being anything but since he wasn't a sky dancer like some people he knew, his grandparents amongst them.

Gaining height, he scanned the area for Nightshade, only to spot her performing a stunt that nearly ended up with her ploughing into a family that was passing the arena. This had to end, now, before she actually did crash and hurt somebody. Diving down on Nightshade, he faked an attack on her wings, causing her to roll and dive. following the move with his eyes, he shifted to counter the counter he knew was coming, catching the Pegasus by surprise as she turned the dive into a sudden climb, only to almost lose her flight feathers to a blast of flame. "Land, Nightshade, before I'm forced to ground you." He ordered, not really believing that she would obey him since she hadn't obeyed her nominal commander.

She didn't surprise him, summoning a patch of darkness and flying away from him under its 'cover'. Unfortunately for her, she was at best twenty seasons old and just coming into her strength as a flier, he was closer to two hundred and fifty and still considered young for his family. Letting his eyes slip from seeing the white light spectrum to seeing the infrared, he pursued Nightshade, letting her get him into a tail chase.

Swooping up a building as it reared up ahead of him, he looped around, narrowly avoiding a kick that would have sent him spinning out of control, grabbing the pony's rear legs as he passed, pulling her off her perch. The patch of darkness she summoned to try to escape was unexpected, but didn't help as his knee smacked into her jaw before he threw her back onto the roof she had been perched on hard enough that she lay gasping for a moment. "Are you done, or do we need to do that again before you get the picture, Nightshade?" Star-Dancer asked, landing easily on the roof.

"You're not my mother, dragon!" Nightshade snapped at him before taking to the air again and performing a high dive from the building to build up speed.

Shaking his head, Star-Dancer followed her. "I still out-age you, kid." He called, swooping down beside her, but unlike her, he kept a watch on what was below and around them. "Spitfire ordered you to stand down as the leader of the Wonderbolts, she called off the performance because you're trying to force your way into the active team and perform your tricks was causing problems for the whole team. A stunt group isn't a backup troupe for a sole performer, kid, it's a team that performs, works and lives together and if you can't accept that and play within the rules to keep your audience safe, you're going to get yourself bucked out." He said, pulling himself up and spreading his wings to catch the air several feet before she did, scowling as she almost crashed again. Kid had some potential, but she was too stupid and too caught up in the whole thing of being the star to know how to hold to her body's limits.

He kept an eye on her as she tried to perform a stunt in the crowded confines. It should have been a simple one, simply to shake him off her tail, if he had been following her that closely, unfortunately she miscalculated something and ended up slamming into a building, bringing a shower of debris down, "Get outta the way!" Star-Dancer called, seeing the problem before it became one and putting on a burst of speed himself. Swooping down, he swept a mare and foal pair away from the debris, snapping his tail at a stallion, which took the hint and dived aside as the building material crashed into the area the family had been standing in. Setting the pair he had grabbed down, he gave them a quick once over and sighed in relief, finding them scared, but unharmed.

Looking around, he growled as he saw Nightshade flying off again. Taking to the air again, he followed Nightshade, pushing himself higher than she was going so that he had the height advantage, but watching her to see what she would do. With something like this, it would be better to hold back until he had the opportunity to take action than push it and cause civilian casualties.

Unfortunately, it seemed that even without him dogging her tail, Nightshade had to try to show off. The stunt she pulled, he recognised as one of Spitfire's specialist stunts, the ones she had come up with on her own, but Nightshade wasn't Spitfire and as she rose into the loop, she made a mistake, lost the stunt and crashed into a group of onlookers hard enough that even from where he was flying, he heard bones break.

Pushing himself, Star-Dancer arrived as Nightshade lifted off the ground again, shock written plain on her face as she tried to flee the scene. Dropping down, he landed on her back, locking his legs around her barrel and his arms around her neck. "No you don't, girl." He growled in her ear. "I told you, you'd hurt someone if you didn't ground yourself, so now I'm going to ground you." He snarled, squeezing her neck as his wings fell into a rhythm with hers, keeping them both aloft while his strength forced her to watch the other ponies as they screamed in pain or wept for the pain of others. He could feel her breathing going ragged and tears dripping onto his scales as he held her. "Land, Nightshade, don't force me to hurt you as well." He growled into her ear.

Slowly, she dropped down to the ground again, her hooves striking the ground dully as she collapsed into a heap. Star-Dancer kept a hold on her until a pair of guardsponies trotted up and collared Nightshade while medical ponies started seeing to the injured. "Take her to one of the holding cells and keep her chained." Star-Dancer told the guards. "I don't think she'll try to fly, but I want her on hand… I've got the feeling I'll need her before long."

"Sir!" The ponies snapped, saluting before trotting off, taking their unwilling prisoner with them as Spitfire walked up, her ears held lower than normal.

"You think she actually meant for this to happen?" Spitfire asked, looking at the medics working to clean up Nightshade's mess.

Star-Dancer shook his head. "No, I think she just can't get it through her head that she's on the reserve team for a reason and that pulling stunts without the proper set-up leads to pain for someone." He said, sighing as he resumed his equine birth form and looked over at the injured. "You're going to have to decide whether you can keep her on the team after she's released from jail… though if not, I might have an idea or two for what to do with her."

Spitfire shook her head, "We can't have her on the team now, she's a criminal and the Wonderbolts can't have someone bringing that sort of black mark on us… not if we're to get access to everything we need to." Sighing, she pulled off her cowl and goggles. "Nightshade is worse than Rainbow Dash for not being a team player and we need a team player as wing-lead, someone that can keep their hooves on the ground in the toughest spots and their head on their shoulders."

He nodded slightly, flicking his tail as a few bugs started buzzing around his rump. "I'd say advertise, but keep Dash in mind, she's Firefly's sister and she's learning a lot about being social now and she's got experience leading." He cast a look at Spitfire. "Don't advertise in Ponyville though, instead send a couple of the ground crew to watch Dash on her day to day routine, see what she's like, then drop it on her that she's invited to 'watch' a recruitment run and shove her into performing at the last second. Odds on she'll give a better performance if she doesn't get warning or time to worry herself stupid over things." He shifted slightly. "As for Nightshade, I think I can find something for her, especially since Luna's looking at the history of the Wonderbolts after she ended up on a team to deal with undead and worse." His group was still working out their own kinks, but with Luna and himself, they had a decent base for dealing with dark-spawn, and every one of the other seven had their own skills that made them suited to the team.

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><p>Safety protocols, what were they good for? Apparently they were good for something, because here he was, rotting in Celestia's dungeon while his partner's murderer got away scot free simply due to some stupid rules. The grey Pegasus stallion ground his teeth, remembering just how the little creep he had been chasing had gotten away from him. Stupid rules and regulations, his partner had been killed because of them and he had not only lost the culprit, but landed himself in jail because he had tried to avenge his partner, beating the heck out of the little foal that had dared to hurt his partner. Now he had no life, no purpose, no nothing. He had been cast out of the Pegasus guard for his actions and tossed into jail in the same buck while his partner's murderer got away from justice without anything happening to him.<p>

Huffing out a sigh, Stratus lay his head down on his forelegs, it wasn't fair, damn it. Of course, he couldn't really say anything to affect the system, not from in here. Hearing something from the entrance way, he looked up to see a dark blue mare enter the dungeon with a much larger black stallion behind her. His eyes narrowed as he looked at them, trying to figure out just who they were and why they were here.

"Guard Stratus?" The mare asked, moving up near his cell. This close, he could see the graceful horn on her brow along with the wings on her flanks and bowed quickly. "Please, don't bow to me." She said, shifting uncomfortably. "Tell me, do you know why you are in _this_ dungeon?"

Raising his head, Stratus arched an eyebrow at the Princess. What did she mean by 'this dungeon'? Weren't dungeons just the same no matter which one you were thrown in? "Princess?" He asked, trying to figure out why this particular dungeon was so special.

"This dungeon is where we put murderers; it hasn't been used in over a thousand years from what my sister told me, up until now." Princess Luna said, watching the ex-guard. She saw his mouth drop open at that. "The colt you were beating died of his injuries before he got to hospital. He was our only link to the Poison Joke smugglers working within Canterlot and Manehatten and thanks to your actions; we've lost that link before we could make use of it." She stopped as Star-Dancer placed a hoof on her shoulder. Sighing, she turned and nosed him gently before turning back to the ex-guard. "Now you are the only living person to know what happened. That is the only reason why you haven't already been tried as dozens saw you beating the victim to death."

Stratus reared back at that for a moment. He hadn't thought he had beaten the colt badly enough that he would die from it, though he had hoped so, but hadn't believed it would have happened. The rest of it though… that the colt had been tracked as someone trafficking in Poison Joke was news to him. "Your Highness… I knew nothing about Poison Joke until you mentioned it, my partner and I were investigating him for other offences when he killed Shield Starburst. I chased him down, trying to stop him from escaping." He said, not noticing the slight glow around Princess Luna's horn as he spoke. Instead, he saw again his partner's death in a lonely warehouse in some forgotten corner of Canterlot, the flash of the unicorn's horn as he cast the spell that had taken his partner's life.

"Thank you, for telling us." Luna said softly before she and Star-Dancer left the dungeon, closing the door behind them. Once they were outside, Luna looked at the half-dragon that had become her mate. "What do you think?"

"I think we need someone that can move around and track down this Poison Joke network without drawing attention to the guards and the crown… before it becomes more lethal than it already is." Star-Dancer replied, walking with her. "I also think that Stratus was never the material for the guards, but he was telling the truth as he saw it and delivering what justice he could as he could."

Luna looked up at him for a moment before leaning against his side, "Another candidate?"

Star-Dancer nodded. "Another candidate," He confirmed.

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><p>Her eyes felt puffy as she woke up, blurring the room and the bars across the door for a few moments before she blinked the residual tears away, rubbing her eyes with her hooves. Getting to her hooves slowly, Nightshade looked around, shivering slightly at the chill. Even at the highest she had flown, cold wasn't something she had had to deal with that often. The cold metal around her neck along with the complete lack of her Wonderbolts uniform and the bars on the door told her where she was, in prison, probably awaiting trial for what had happened during the show that was supposed to have been entertaining the people of Canterlot for this Summer Sun Celebration.<p>

Stupid Wonderbolts, stupid crowds, stupid dragon, they would pay for what they had done eventually, once she got out of this mess. Hearing the creak of metal, she looked up and laid her ears back, seeing Spitfire, still in full uniform, entering the room. "Spitfire," She said, trying to keep her cool as her boss made her way over to the cage.

"Nightshade," Spitfire responded, watching the light blue pony carefully. "You are lucky, none of the ponies you injured died from their wounds, though some were serious." She said, watching Nightshade. "You're also lucky that someone I consider a friend was the one that stopped you. Star-Dancer could have broken your neck if he had wanted to, but he did say he has something in mind for you, despite the fact that your actions have forced me to buck you out of the Wonderbolts."

Nightshade scowled at the fact that the dragon was apparently the 'famous' one that had stopped something worse than Nightmare Moon coming out of the Everfree Forest near Ponyville… and put an end to Nightmare Moon for good. Now his actions and reactions made more sense, he was supposed to be a soldier with centuries of experience from what the rumours said. Hearing that she was being bucked out of the Wonderbolts, however, brought a tear to her eye despite how tough she tried to act most of the time. The Wonderbolts had been a dream come true for her and she was being bucked before she could even perform. "Spitfire…."

"Don't," Spitfire held up a hoof. "You were stupid, Nightshade, unfortunately somepony else paid the price. That's something I can't have in my team, the Wonderbolts were formed to _protect_ Equestria and the Princesses, not show off for the crowds as Star-Dancer put it, but we're also _presenting_ the face of the Pegasus guards. Everypony in the Pegasus guard protects, we're the ones that show how it's done, we're not a circus stunt troupe and the rules the original Firefly laid down mean that we cannot afford to keep you in our number." She continued, sighing.

Nightshade blinked, caught completely off-guard by Spitfire's speech. "Then… our moves are to hurt other ponies?" Bitch she was, at least compared to most ponies, but she drew the line at hurting others. She cringed, remembering the sound of bones breaking as she ploughed into those bystanders just before Star-Dancer caught her. "I… I can't…."

Spitfire looked up at Nightshade, seeing the normally light blue had gone pale compared to her mane. "Nightshade, you could have been good, heck, of the up and comers I've seen, there's only two I was thinking of to become Wonderbolt leader when I retired, you were one, until you were stupid enough to disrupt the performance and hurt ponies." She said, sighing again as she watched the mare. "Look, I can't keep you in the Wonderbolts, the code we live under stops me from doing so, but I know there are plans to create another group. There's things happening all over the place and the guards ponies can't be seen involved, meaning others, but there's only three teams and… we can't keep up with everything, so Princess Luna and Star-Dancer are planning for others, one to start, more later, if things work out."

Nightshade watched Spitfire for several moments before speaking. "Are you saying that I should join one of these 'other teams'?" She asked.

Spitfire nodded. "Yes, believe me; you'll get more than enough action to suit you if you do, even if you don't end up famous in your own right." She knew what Star-Dancer had said about trouble starting to brew since Princess Luna had returned to Equestria, about how things were getting more active and nastier, she just hoped he knew what he was doing, though since he was Princess Luna's consort and a soldier that had put down the 'Nightmare of Paradise Estate' as the press were calling the events that had occurred over the past year, she wouldn't be surprised if his predictions came true. "I can't stay, Nightshade, I've got to see to the team, but think about things, okay?" She asked, before turning to the door and making her way towards it.

"Alright," Nightshade responded, sighing as she settled herself into a rough straw pallet again, not wanting to watch Spitfire leave.

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><p>Looking at the poster on the wall, the light purple Pegasus frowned slightly. The Wonderbolts were actually recruiting, and they were advertising the fact? As far as she knew, the Wonderbolts never told anypony that they were recruiting new members, the group just… changed over time. Running a hoof through her pink and white mane, the Pegasus shifted slightly. Maybe she would have the chance to get into them, oh how proud her parents would be if she could get into a group like the Wonderbolts, how much glory she would get, how much envy and respect instead of being third filly with nowhere to go.<p>

The mare paused to think about it for a moment, she wasn't the best flier in Cloudsdale, granted there wasn't exactly a lot else to do in a city filled with Pegasus ponies when you were an aristocrat, but she had never done as much stunt flying as some other fillies she knew, certainly not as much as the Wonderbolts probably wanted, but she could learn, if she was allowed into the team. How to get onto the team though? She couldn't fly her way onto it, not since most every pony that could fly would want to try out and most of them were better at stunts than she was, maybe she could buy on to it, the Wonderbolts often did charity events, didn't they? They would need money from somewhere and if nothing else, she had a sizable amount of money available to her.

Flicking her tail briefly, she read through the advert again and blinked. They were going to hold the initial interviews in the town square, in less than fifteen minutes. "Oh horse-feathers," She muttered to herself, launching herself into the air and flying towards the town square. While she wasn't good at stunts, she was good at flying fast over short distances, usually through the alleys and paths of Cloudsdale, she knew most of the short-cuts through the town, mostly from the races she had been a part of before her parents had banned her from them, and even though she hadn't participated — they thought — she had still found ways to get into the races.

Ducking through one of the alleys she knew, she dodged around a carriage that seemed to be trying to use it as a shortcut, holding herself up on one wingtip as she flew through the narrow gap between the carriage and the building wall. She didn't see a green Pegasus land on the carriage for a moment to take a picture with a small camera before flying after her.

By the time she got to the town square, the lines of hopeful Pegasi lined up to try to make it into the Wonderbolts were already wrapped halfway around the square. Touching down on the clouds that made up the 'ground' for the city, the purple Pegasus sighed in frustration. Just how many Pegasi wanted to become Wonderbolts?

Sighing again, she picked a line and moved to the back of it, hoping that it wouldn't take too long for the Wonderbolts to get rid of some of these contenders.

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><p>"Alright, next," Firefly called as she sent another hopeful away. Honestly, the amount of kids that wanted to become Wonderbolts and not one of them had any idea just how much work went into the routines and how hard it was to live behind the mask. Of course, there was another mask and suit that was at stake with these interviews as well. Star-Dancer had asked her to act as one of the coordinators for the recruitment in Cloudsdale both because she knew what the Wonderbolts wanted and because she knew his plan for making new teams, the first of which would be a dark copy of her former unit. She knew the reasoning, but that didn't mean that she liked the thought of the beings Nightmare Moon created in an attempt to subvert her sister being made flesh in order to go beyond the law of the land.<p>

Rubbing her hooves over her eyes, she looked up to see that nopony had come to her desk, despite there being a line behind a light purple Pegasus with a striped mane and tail, who seemed to have fallen asleep on her hooves. Sighing, Firefly reached under the table and pulled out a small device. Pressing a button on it, she looked over at her friend, Medley, who had arrived back a couple of hours ago and was helping out. "Better brace yourself, Med." She said before tossing the device to land near the sleeping pony.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, but then the device started emitting a shrill squeal that quickly deepened into a dragon's roar. Several of the ponies near the sleeper yelped, stumbling over themselves as they backed away hurriedly while the sleeper herself jumped a good ten feet into the air.

Firefly and Medley shared a laugh as the mare tried to find the source of the noise, stamping around in a fighting stance. "Well, she comes up fighting, that's for sure." Medley yelled, her voice muffled by the noise.

Firefly nodded, counting quietly until the noise grenade turned itself off. "True, true, and that's a good mark." She said before looking over at the line. "You can stop trying to fight air now, ma'am." She called out to the mare, drawing her attention and waving her over.

"Wh-wh-what w-wa-was th-that?" The mare asked as she made her way towards the desk Firefly was sitting at, still looking a bit freaked.

"That," Medley said, smiling slightly, "Was an alarm for ponies that refuse to wake up."

Firefly chuckled softly, "Medley is right, and I don't blame you for being a bit spooked, one of those going off next to you will make you jump." She said, shifting slightly to study the pony in front of her. "Now, you're here to try to sign up for the open position on the Wonderbolts, correct?" She asked, getting a nod from the other mare. "Can I have your name please?" She asked, starting the set of questions she had been through far too many times today already.

The mare shifted slightly, before giving a smile that made her look like she was trying to be charming. "My name is Starry Skies." She introduced herself.

Firefly shared a look with Medley; they would have to keep a watch on this one. flicking her tail, Firefly settled down to the questions, covering everything Spitfire wanted from a potential team member, along with more than a few things Firefly remembered from her own stint in the Wonderbolts. After completing the first round of questions, she flicked her tail, stretching out before settling again. Several times during the interview, Starry Skies had hinted that there was money to be had by recruiting her and had tried to charm Firefly, something that would normally put her back up, but in this case sounded like something that would be useful. "One last question," Firefly said finally, "The Wonderbolts often have to appear for special events, such as the Grand Galloping Gala and the Best Young Fliers competition, if somepony tried to request that you do something that might put your comrades at risk, even if it wasn't supposed to be dangerous, what would you do?"

"I…" Apparently Starry Skies hadn't been expecting that question. "I would try to make it seem like I was going to consider things, but I would talk to my captain if I could." She said finally, "Though if it was something profitable, I'd be more inclined to think it over."

That answered her question, and gave her a good idea as to which unit to put Starry Skies into. Firefly nodded. "Well, thank you for coming; we'll be in touch within the next few days." She said, nodding to the other mare and waiting for her to leave before turning to Medley. "I think we have another winner, let's pass this one's interview on to Star-Dancer and Princess Luna." She said, getting a nod from her long time friend.

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><p>Blueball Blitz didn't know how it had happened, one minute she was flying along the streets of Cloudsdale trying to find somewhere to sleep for the night and something to eat since she couldn't buy anything what with no home, no job and no parents or siblings to take care of her, the next, something struck her from out of one of the weather factories she was passing and knocked her clean along the alley. When she had woken up, she had been in a hospital with nurse ponies talking about some sort of accident at a factory and a lot of injured ponies, one that had occurred three <em>days<em> before she had woken up in that hospital.

That had been nearly a month ago and since then, all she had seen was doctors and nurses poking at her and trying to figure out what had happened, since both her mane and tail seemed to generate their own electric current independent of anything else. Blueball Blitz couldn't explain _that_ to herself, much less any of the doctor ponies. That was beside the point though, they kept poking her and prodding her as if she was some animal and she had had enough of that.

Making her way over to the window of the room she had been put in, she slid it open and clambered out, making a dive off the windowsill towards the cloud bank below, mere seconds before she would have hit the clouds, she spread her wings, grunting as her body pulled up sharply, her wing shoulder muscles protesting at the manoeuvre.

Flying through the streets, Blueball Blitz grinned to herself as she soared, enjoying the feeling of speed. She wanted to go faster, faster than ever before, but all these turns made it impossible to build up a decent amount of speed. Stretching her legs out, she cannoned around startled ponies, sometimes passing close enough that she could almost feel the touch of their wings on her skin.

Hearing shouts behind her as she burst out into the town square, she put on a burst of speed and pulled up sharply, looping around as another Pegasus lunged at her from behind, narrowly avoiding being caught. She glanced back as he started swearing before throwing herself into another evasive manoeuvre to avoid a pony she hadn't seen trying to catch her from above and laughed. This was fun, avoiding flying through the sky, avoiding other ponies as the wind whistled passed her ears. If she had thought about things, she might have wondered how she knew where the other ponies were, but it just seemed natural that she knew they were there.

One came at her from the right and she pulled off a double inside out loop without thinking about it, evading his reaching hooves completely and spinning circles around another pony that had been trying to catch her from the front. She heard the two of them crash together, but ignored it, and then there was a pink blur, before a pony was between her and where she wanted to go. Pulling up, she blinked for a moment, trying to figure out where she was before she recognised it as the main square.

"Alright, that's enough." Firefly stated loudly, still hovering in front of the blue filly. "I'll take over from here."

"But Miss Firefly…" One of the other Pegasus ponies started, this one, Blueball Blitz noticed, was wearing a doctor's outfit.

"No buts, unless you want to take it up with Princess Luna?" Firefly suggested, snorting when the doctors backed off. Turning to the filly, she flicked her tail. "Alright, kid, time to land, then you can come back to the hotel with me and Medley and explain yourself before we take you out of here."

Nodding slightly, Blueball Blitz let herself drop to the 'ground' where a green Pegasus was waiting for her. Maybe something good would happen to her now.

* * *

><p>Sitting in one of the less reputable bars in Manehatten, Trixie flexed the wings she had on her flanks to stop them from getting stiff before turning her attention to her drink, picking it up with her hooves. She had been here for nearly a month now, living as a Pegasus thanks to a spell similar to the one Princess Luna had used to turn herself into Selece, mostly due to trying to track down somepony that would give her a lead as to where the Poison Joke was being shipped to.<p>

So far, they had tracked it from the Everfree Forest, when the zebra, Zecora, had noticed swathes of the plant disappearing overnight, to Canterlot, where Luna and Star-Dancer were investigating several leads the last she had heard, and to Manehatten, her assignment along with Carrot's, hence why she was sitting in a bar that had seen better days with wings rather than a horn.

"Hey babe, back again?" A voice asked from behind her. Turning slightly, Trixie smiled at the grey stallion that walked up to where she was sitting at the bar, his mane groomed so that it would stick up from his head in a ridge. "Couldn't resist my charms, huh?" He asked, grinning at her.

Trixie sipped her drink. "Well, it's not like I've got anywhere else to go at the moment, Charger." She pointed out. Of course, what she didn't mention was that he was actually the one she was investigating. He was a gang leader in this part of Manehatten, and involved in numerous illegal street races against all three types of pony, there were rumours about him being involved in poison joke smuggling, which was why she was interested in him, though she had the idea that if he ever got bucked from the gangs, he might be useful to them in another way. Namely the Shadowbolt group Star-Dancer and Luna were putting together.

Charger chuckled before ordering himself apple cider from the bar keeper. "Well, if you still feel that way tomorrow, Miss Blaze, I believe there is a street race in the Old Quarter, a few of my people are competing in it." He said, watching Trixie as the bar keeper bustled to and fro, gathering drinks and taking bits. "I might even be convinced to put a bet down myself, for the right reasons." He continued, trying to charm the filly in front of him as he had several others. This one, however, was more resistant to his charms than most seemed to be.

Trixie smiled pleasantly at him, "And what, Charger, would one of those reasons be, hmm?" She asked, playing along with the charm. She knew the type, once upon a time she had been one to use it, charming and challenging everypony from her stage as she travelled the countryside. She also knew that sooner or later the payback would bite hard on Charger's flank the same way it had on hers. Star-Dancer was right about that, payback was like a bitch wolf with a group of pups to protect, all teeth and claws and nothing to reason with, only run from or face and hope to survive.


	2. Chapter 2

This story is a follow on to Dancing through the Night, which I'm still working on, I haven't forgotten it. It's duplicated over on Deviant Art and the standard disclaimer applies, namely that all characters from the series belong to the series creators. In this case there's an additional disclaimer that the main five Shadowbolts: Nightshade, Stratus, Blueball Blitz, Starry Skies and Charger belong to YoorPoorick over on DA as he's the one that drew the picture of them that sparked this fic.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

Making her way up to her room, Luna paused for a moment to look out of the tower window at the night sky, smiling slightly. After all the pain, all the torture and all the years of loneliness, she finally knew where she belonged and finally had friends that she cared about. Celestia had warned her that with the lives they were living now, it was likely that she was going to lose the friends she had made after taking the form of Selece the unicorn and moving to Ponyville off and on for a while, but while they were here, she intended on enjoying everything she could about having them around. Carrot Top, the stubborn Earth pony who had a gift with Earth magic, Bonbon, the most motherly of the ponies she knew, Medley, the worrier but the first to put herself into harm's way for her friends, Firefly, the stunt pony and ex-Wonderbolt, Lyra the bard, Trixie, the resident mage and ranger, Skyrunner, the warrior Pegasus and Star-Dancer, her love.

Turning back to her path, Luna flicked her tail. Unfortunately for all of them, it seemed that ever since she had returned, things had been getting increasingly noisy or bothersome for her sister. Maybe it was just the fact that she was here to see it, or maybe there was something in it, she didn't know. What she did know was that they needed to do something to keep a lid on things and try to avoid any more incidents like the whole Nightmare Moon fiasco or the incident when they had found the ruins of the old Paradise Estate, a home to ponies that outdated even her and her sister, yet still with enough remaining through the magic of its creation that it could be found, unfortunately home to the being that had slaughtered its inhabitants, both human and pony, even though that had happened thousands of years ago.

Walking into the room she and Star-Dancer shared, she arched an eyebrow, seeing him with several parchments pinned to a cork board similar to how the guard sometimes pinned up pictures of criminals. "Still reviewing the group?" She asked, walking over to nuzzle him.

Star-Dancer nodded, returning the nuzzle. "Yeah, I've got more than I thought I would get for an initial team." He snorted softly. "I guess I should have known there was always going to be more people that could fill a role than roles to fill." He commented.

"So who have you got so far?" Luna asked, moving to settle beside her lover and studying the pictures on the cork board, each one a Pegasus pony that had drawn the attention of one of their group either for having looser morals than most ponies or for being the type to get themselves into trouble trying to do something that they felt was for the good of others, or were just plain unlucky enough to get into the wrong type of trouble.

Star-Dancer let out a slow breath. "Well, I want nine on the team, that way the Shadowbolts equal the Wonderbolts, it won't be too hard to hide extra costumes for the Wonderbolts, or get a few dark costumes sorted out since I rather liked the purple on black colour scheme that Dash remembers from when Nightmare Moon decided to try to tempt her." He explained, flicking his tail. "And there's a few ponies I do reckon will be good for the team, Stratus is a decent guy from what I saw in the cell… a bit lax on following the rules, though maybe the incident with his partner will teach him something about things, depending on how things happened, but his knowledge of guard procedure and his training in combat will make him a decent combat expert for the team. I also want Nightshade as the captain, she's got experience in the Wonderbolts so she knows their routines and knows how to command a formation from then, that'll help when we use the Shadowbolts as stunt ponies to deceive folks, since I'd bet there'll be at least a few times when we need the Wonderbolts in two places at once, or the Shadowbolts, so having them know each other's routines will help, Nightshade already has that advantage."

Luna nodded slightly, leaning against him. "Sounds like you've got that part of the group all worked out, what about the others?" She asked.

"Trixie's got a possible down in Manehatten, as has Carrot. Trixie's is a gang leader, so underworld connections, she thinks he might know something about that poison joke smuggling route, his name is Charger, apparently he's a bit of a charmer as well. Carrot's pony is a stallion by name of Smoke, he's also underworld, but not connected to any known gang, he's more a thief, he takes jobs, breaks into houses and steals from them, several guards have had encounters that usually resulted in smoke bombs being used to blind them or them getting knocked out." Star-Dancer continued, pointing out a smoke-grey stallion on the board along with the picture of Charger. "I've got three others that are a tossup, but there's two I really need to fill and I can't find anybody worthwhile."

"Well, maybe these will help since Firefly and Medley sent us some information recently." Luna suggested, handing him a couple of scrolls.

Taking the scrolls and reading through them, Star-Dancer frowned for a moment before nodding. "Good, this Starry Skies sounds like she'd make a good 'face pony', the bribery attempts mean she can keep the money for the group up, that'll mean less coming from the treasury and her charm should help with the stallions, her connections to the aristocracy help as well." He said, putting one sheet aside. "We'll see what she can do when we trick Dash into the 'bolts." Frowning, he looked through the second scroll, reading about the mare. "This one might help as well, the speed will be good since we'll need a courier at times and we'll need someone to match Dash. The rest, we'll see on, but that will get her a place since nobody else seems to match Dash in the air."

Luna nodded again. "Good, that mean's we've got most of the team ready to go, we just need to get them assembled." She pointed out.

"True, though that can wait for another day." Star-Dancer replied, kissing her gently. "I need a break from this and I'm sure you want some time with me when we're not thinking about this stuff."

"Oh yes, definitely." Luna replied with a grin.

* * *

><p>Starry Skies looked around in awe at the training grounds of the Wonderbolts. Even though she was a nobly born filly, this was far beyond what she was used to, what with all the open space and the padded surfaces. She stood with a group of other ponies, all Pegasi, near one of the arenas, watching as the eight Wonderbolts performed together. She had seen most of their performances and she had to admit they were good.<p>

Glancing over at the opposite side of the arena, she frowned, noticing a group of ponies, several of which seemed to be ground-walkers, Earth ponies or unicorns, watching. She recognised two of them, the green and the pink with blue hair; those had been the ones that had startled her with that wake up device back in Cloudsdale. A third looked familiar as well… blue fur, rainbow coloured mane and tail, wasn't that the one that had won the Young Fliers competition a couple of years ago with a sonic rainboom? If it was… she had no chance of getting in if that pony was here to try out as well. She debated with herself about backing out while she had the chance, no amount of money would take the place of the skill that other Pegasus had, so if she was competing with her, there was no way she would be getting in, but on the other hoof, she had come all the way here, surely she had to see things through, even if she knew they wouldn't turn out in her favour.

No, she would see things through, besides, it didn't look like the filly was actually here to compete for the last place in the Wonderbolts, it looked more like she was here to watch and to enjoy some time with them. Maybe the older pair were Wonderbolts at one point as well, but had retired from active service, so were willing to take the younger mares on a tour of the facility.

Starry Skies watched as the Wonderbolts descended in formation to the ground, landing in front of the group she was with. She hadn't even been watching the last few minutes of their performance, she realised.

"Wildfire, take the rest to get showered, Soarin', if you would join me." Spitfire said, dismissing the team for the moment and turning to look at the assembled ponies. "Alright, I imagine most of you know why you're here today. Each of you has got passed the interview stage of the applications to replace our missing team member; however applications won't cut it with us." She said, watching the audience she had. "The Wonderbolts are a stunt team that are part of the Pegasi guards, key words there, team and part of the guards, that means what we show, while dangerous in its own right, is quite likely something that saved pony lives at one point or another.

"This is the first time on record where the Wonderbolts have recruited directly from the populace of Equestria, more often than not we either take specialist fliers or members of the guard that have proved themselves to be expert fliers and even then, more than two thirds of the ponies that do try out don't make it past this stage in any given round of recruiting, more often than not by the time training starts, we've whittled applicants down to a mere half dozen and of those, four are gone in days." Spitfire continued, hammering the point home that more likely than not most of the ponies in front of her would fail to meet the demands of the job. Hopefully the one surprise applicant wouldn't disappoint her though, even though said applicant didn't know she was an applicant.

Soarin' stepped forwards, watching the ponies. "As the Captain said, earlier though, today is the day that you try out, this means you have to impress us with your flying abilities. We will be dividing you into three groups, each group under one of the flight elements of Wonderbolts to perform in sequence several of the most common stunts we perform at our shows. Depending on how that goes, you might get the opportunity to show off some of your own moves or fly with two of the three Wonderbolts marking you to see how well you perform as part of a group. We will not be putting groups of you up in the air together as even if you know the moves, coordination is a key skill in a Wonderbolt, if you don't have that with your fellows, then you will cause an accident, which is something we want to avoid, hence only one rookie flier at a time."

Starry Skies shifted slightly, frowning to herself at the Wonderbolts' words. Team flying was definitely not something she had done before, though race flying often had set routes that a pony could take, so maybe that would help keep her from crashing too badly if she even managed to get to that stage. Of course, she could try to bribe ponies again, but that probably wouldn't work out too well in this environment, especially not with other stronger fliers around her.

* * *

><p>Landing at the entrance to a warehouse, Charger flicked his tail, looking around before starting inside. The rest of his gang tended to hang out in this building when they weren't busy doing other things.<p>

Stepping into the building, he looked around, seeing Blaze lounging around on one of the crates that filled the large room while several other ponies of all types sat and talked or played games of chance against one another. His was probably one of the bigger gangs in this part of Manehatten, but it didn't seem to be enough anymore. He could have most any mare he chose out of the members of the gang, all of them looked up to him, but… he huffed out a sigh, something just seemed wrong about things. Maybe it was this new set of potions that were making their way onto the streets from some place outside of Manehatten, maybe it was something to do with the lack of guards around, or maybe the lack of activity from the other gangs, but something just didn't feel right about the atmosphere around here, hadn't for the past few weeks either.

Making his way over to where Blaze lay, he nosed her gently. "Good afternoon," He said, smiling slightly when she returned the nosing.

"Something bothering you?" Blaze asked him, shifting slightly from where she was lying. "You seem a bit tense today."

Charger shrugged, shifting slightly on his hooves. "I'm not certain… it just seems a bit too quiet recently, none of the other gangs have tried anything, nor have the guards… there hasn't even been any word on those pushers that have been trying to get in on _everybody's_ territory." He said, frowning, not even attempting to be his usual charming self at the moment. There just seemed to be far too much going on to worry about charming mares.

Blaze shrugged her wings, watching him. "I guess some of it could be something to do with those rumoured try-outs for the Wonderbolts that are supposed to be happening today or tomorrow, a lot of people seem to hero worship them to the point where they would jump at the chance to join them, even if they weren't any good at all."

"That's true, I guess." Charger admitted.

"This is the Manehatten Guard; all of you come out with your hooves up." A voice came from outside, magically enhanced to penetrate the building, bringing heads up sharply.

"What the hay?" Charger asked, his head snapping around. He hadn't seen any guards when he had come in, so where the hay had those ponies been hiding? He must have been getting old to have missed them, that or they were getting a lot better at hiding themselves while people were looking for them.

* * *

><p>"So what do you think, Dash?" Spitfire asked, watching the would-be Wonderbolts flying through the most basic of the moves the Wonderbolts performed in most of their all too many shows as she sat next to a blue-furred, rainbow-maned Pegasus. They had been watching things for a few hours now, and most of the worse candidates had simply been sent home with nothing to show for their trouble but a few 'goodies'.<p>

Dash waved a hoof in front of her nose. "I could do better than most of them with my eyes closed." She said, shifting slightly to watch a light purple pony go through several moves with deliberate precision. "Though I don't know who taught that pony how to fly, she can't pull off the simple tricks." She added, pointing out the mare.

Firefly and Medley broke out laughing as they caught sight of the pony in question, causing both Dash and Spitfire to turn to look at them, "What's so funny, guys?" Spitfire asked, shifting slightly.

Medley grinned, pulling out a noise grenade, one that Dash recognised, having been caught by it a few times herself. "You didn't, did you?" Dash asked, looking up at her elder sister and friend. Seeing both of them grinning, she burst out laughing. "What'd she do to end up having one of those things go off next to her?"

Spitfire looked between the trio of mares in confusion. "Would one of you please tell me what's going on here?"

"Sorry, Spitfire," Firefly said, getting herself under control. "That purple Pegasus is Starry Skies, she ended up falling asleep while we were doing the run in Cloudsdale, so I woke her up with a noise grenade, she must've jumped a good ten feet into the air and most of those behind her stumbled a good ten or twenty feet backwards when it went off."

Spitfire blinked as Dash guffawed again. "I don't get it," She admitted, flicking her tail.

"Those things…" Dash started. "I wish we'd had them when we had to chase that dragon away from the cave near Ponyville, because you cannot stop the noise, it's loud and it's really, _really_ annoying."

Spitfire frowned, shifting slightly. "Huh… maybe I should get some of those to get some of these layabouts out of bed so they're not rushing for the shows." She said, glancing up to see Starry Skies finishing her routine. She glanced over at Firefly and smirked. "Hey, Dash. You know you said earlier you could do better than most of these ponies with your eyes closed?" She asked, getting a nod from the blue Pegasus. "Well, it looks like Soarin's out of people to watch so why don't you try your hoof at things?" She suggested.

Dash snorted, shaking her head. "Too easy," She said, hopping onto all fours before flying up into the arena that Soarin' was watching, not seeing Spitfire clop hooves with Firefly and Medley behind her as she started the routine she had seen far too many times to count today.

* * *

><p>She hadn't been counting on this to happen, granted things had been rather too quiet. Trixie huffed out a sigh, ducking behind some crates as various members of Charger's gang fought with the guards. The last thing she needed was a raid by the guard ponies, unfortunately that was exactly what she had right now, and while she could easily break the stone she always kept on her that would let her resume her natural form, it would probably cause more problems than it fixed right now particularly since nopony outside her group actually knew that she was here under cover.<p>

All that said, the only pony she really needed from this place was the leader, Charger, Star-Dancer had put him on the list for the Shadowbolts, meaning he needed to be kept out of too much trouble until they were actually formed, easier said than done considering everything happening around here at the moment.

Seeing one of the other Pegasi in Charger's gang get bucked into a wall and slide limply down it, she scowled. Right now she was simply staying put and out of the line of fire from the guard ponies, she could easily sneak out the back, but that would bring up questions about where 'Blaze' was and what had happened to her, something she didn't need either. Blaze was useful as an alternate form for wandering around places like this since Trixie had become famous in another way.

Flicking an ear at the sound of something from where the guards were, she risked a look over her cover and grimaced, seeing them preparing several storm clouds. They must have had a unicorn with them, one that specialised in weather magic most likely. Seeing Charger backing up away from the new trouble, she slipped out of her cover and grabbed his tail in her mouth, pulling him back just before the storm started up, grimacing at the sound of a thunderbolt far too close, at least these weren't the bolts that were a pony-length in thickness like the ones Star-Dancer could drop on a pony.

"We need to get out of here, now." Trixie said after pulling Charger out of the line of fire and spitting his tail out of her mouth. The question was whether they could get out of here without the guards getting too beat up or her cover being blown, then again, it might be worth blowing her cover to a degree to keep the stallion they needed alive, since the guards didn't seem to be taking prisoners today. She frowned at that, something had to be behind the fact they weren't taking prisoners.

Charger glared at her. "And how do you _suggest_ we do that, Blaze?" He asked as more guards burst in through the windows around the building. "They've got us surrounded here."

Glancing up, Trixie grimaced at the sight of the new guards, "Thratosh!" The curse slipped out, causing Charger to look at her oddly. "Well… we've got two choices then, either surrender and hope they're actually the city guard and not somepony's militia dressed up so we get out alive or… or you put your trust in me and I'll do what I can." She said, pulling out the stone that contained her true shape and powers. "Which is it Charger?" She asked, looking over at him.

She saw him look back around as one of the guards knocked another of his gang members into a wall, wincing at the sound of breaking bones. That had to have hurt. "We're not going to do anypony any good if we're all captured." He said finally, looking over at her. "Do what you need to."

Trixie nodded, dropping the stone and crushing it under her hooves. Light enveloped her, became her, then just as quickly as it had started, it stopped again, leaving her in her natural form, that of a blue unicorn. She saw his eyes widen at the sight of her and snorted softly, reaching over to grab his mane in her teeth and closing her eyes to concentrate on the teleportation spell. She felt the spell draining her, trying to take everything she had to give and Reached out mentally, almost gasping as she felt a river of liquid fire under the building. Grasping it carefully, she fed that energy into the spell and released it, the warehouse vanishing from around them.

* * *

><p>Entering the apartment she had been given the keys for when they had let her out of the jail, Nightshade looked around. It was a lot smaller than she was used to, but then she was on her own again, so it didn't really matter that much. Her ear flicked as she noticed a set of saddlebags hung neatly over a rail near the door. Frowning, she cocked her head. Nopony had told her that she was going to be sharing an apartment, of course, they hadn't really told her about the apartment either, they had just given her an envelope with the key and a map inside it.<p>

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she made her way over to the saddlebag hanger and took her own saddlebags off, putting them with the set that was already in place. Looking around again, she decided to see if there was anypony else around, starting with the nearest door. Pushing it open with one of her hooves, she looked into the room cautiously. What she found was a fairly normal looking living area, with a table and a few cushion seats scattered around and a set of shelves against one of the walls. She also found a grey Pegasus stallion with a scar along his muzzle lying on one of the cushions, watching her, "Um… hi?"

"So, you're the other one the note mentioned, huh?" The stallion asked, shifting slightly. "I had wondered who it was talking about." He studied her, frowning. "You're one of the Wonderbolts, aren't you?"

Nightshade blinked, staring at him blankly for several moments before shaking her head. "I don't know what you mean about a note, but I'm not a Wonderbolt, not anymore. They threw me out… I tried to show what I was capable of and mucked up badly." She said, her ears lying flat against her head as she remembered the shame of hearing Spitfire cast her out. She really should have listened to the captain while she had the chance.

The stallion grunted, rolling to his hooves. "I used to be in the guard, but then I killed another pony… he deserved it, but… the Princesses didn't take kindly to it, especially since that pony was supposedly their link to some smuggling operation that I hadn't heard of." Trotting into another room for a moment, he came back with a note and placed it on the ground in front of Nightshade. "That's the note that was here when I arrived, and my name is Stratus." He introduced himself.

"Nightshade," Nightshade replied, picking up the note in her hooves. "And I think I remember hearing about some trouble in Manehatten, ponies getting weird illnesses or dying from something, rumours were that there was some Everfree plant involved." Seeing his look, she shrugged her wings. "There's not really much to do besides listen to ponies chatter when you're in the reserve element of the Wonderbolts, which is why I got into trouble, I was fed up playing second fiddle to Spitfire, Soarin' and the others, I tried to put on my own show, ended up hurting some ponies before Star-Dancer stopped me."

Stratus shifted slightly, frowning, "The pony that's 'seeing' Princess Luna? The one that can become a dragon?" He asked, getting a nod from Nightshade. "Huh… he and the Princess visited me after the guard locked me up. That I got out and was given this place and a housemate that's also been in trouble is starting to look suspicious."

Nightshade frowned at her companion for a moment before looking at the note she had been given. The script wasn't elegant, but it was a lot neater than something mouth written by somepony, suggesting that it might have been written by somepony with hands.

_To the ponies that find this letter,_

_I don't know if we've met or not, nor whether the two of you have met, since I'm writing this for something that hasn't happened yet and Foresight is not one of the abilities I inherited from my grandparents. What I do know, however, is that you two should get to know one another as you will be working together and living together from whenever you find this note, if not before, depending on how observant you are. Think of it as a test of your abilities as it will be one you will likely be needing in the future._

_I won't say what is going on in this message, but I suggest you both make use of the facilities provided in the apartment, both those within the apartment itself and those that items in the apartment lead you to. See if you can find them all, I'll know which ones you pick up on one way or another. I also suggest that you keep an eye on the mail. When things are ready for the next step, you'll receive word through the mail, along with a map and clues as to find where I want you to come. Once you're there, I'll explain what this project is about and why the pair of you have been given this opportunity._

The note wasn't signed, but several things about it reminded Nightshade of the short conversation she had had with Spitfire. The leader of the Wonderbolts was in on whatever this was; she knew about it and wanted Nightshade to take the opportunity. That had to mean that Princess Luna and Star-Dancer were behind this. "That… I don't believe this…." She muttered to herself before looking up at Stratus. "Well, Stratus was it?" She got a nod from the stallion. "I think we're going to be joining a new group, probably under Princess Luna and Star-Dancer… Spitfire mentioned that there were more coming, but I didn't expect to end up in one."

"Huh, I guess that makes some sense. They wouldn't release a murderer just like that, even if he was part of the guard, and my reputation was hardly the best there." Stratus commented. "It seems we're getting a free pass at the trial, because we're going to be working for the Princesses in another way." He frowned shifting slightly. "I just wish I knew why they wanted an ex-guard and an ex-Wonderbolt and what 'facilities' the note was talking about."

Nightshade shrugged her shoulders. "No idea, but we'll probably find out… um… say, you've been here a bit longer than I have, what's the bedroom set up like?"

Stratus shook his head. "Not by much, though there's two. I haven't chosen one yet, I just had a quick look around and found the note in the kitchen, once I saw that there was someone else, I decided to wait to see if anypony showed up before picking a room for myself and you did."

Nightshade nodded. "Well, I'll have a look at them and see whether I prefer one over the other if you don't mind. At least that way I can get what few possessions I've got stored away." Seeing Stratus nod, she left the room and started looking around, trying to find out which rooms were where.

* * *

><p>Starry Skies flopped back onto her rear, looking up into the sky as Rainbow Dash performed with two of the Wonderbolts and sighed. Now it was official, she wasn't going to even be considered as a new Wonderbolt, not with the other Pegasus around. In fact, she was the only one that had even gotten to the point where they were sending Wonderbolts up to see how she did with wing-mates.<p>

Watching the trio perform, she sighed again. She had known that this was a long shot, but still, to see it through to this point and then to see it torn away…. She didn't see the green Pegasus from Cloudsdale approach her until something dropped in her lap. "Wha…?" She started, blinking as her attention was pulled back to earth.

"Everypony else has a pack with a few things in it as a thank you for coming to this." The green said, flexing her wings slightly. "You're the last one left and with Spitfire and Soarin' working with Rainbow Dash, I figured it'd be best to give this one to you. You've got some potential, but you won't be an innovative flier from what I saw."

Starry Skies shifted slightly. "Err… thanks, I guess." She said, picking up the package in her mouth and starting towards the exit to the training grounds.

It wasn't until she reached her room in the cloud mansion that her parents owned that she found there was something different about the package she had been given. Most of the things in it were normal, she had several of the pictures and posters from her visits to Wonderbolt shows, what was different, however, was the black and purple costume inside the bag, folded small enough that she could hold it in one hoof along with a note telling her to keep the costume secret, but to be at a certain place in Canterlot in a month.

Laying the costume out on her bed, Starry Skies frowned as she studied it. It looked very much like the one the Wonderbolts wore, except for being black on the head and hooves, purple on the rest. The symbol didn't match either, as where the Wonderbolts had a lightning bolt, either with or without wings; this costume had a blue-black bolt of something fiery on the flank.

She couldn't help but wonder what this costume, and the recruitment drive had been all about, especially given they had held off with her doing things until the end, and then put Rainbow Dash into the last place but that green Pegasus had given her this. This had to be a set up of some kind, but for what?

"Well… I've got to have been given this for a reason," Starry Skies muttered to herself, moving to lock her door before setting the costume on the floor and stepping into it, pulling it up her hind legs before pulling it on over her forelegs and zipping it up. The costume felt strange against her fur, almost too big for a few moments before it seemed to shrink to fit her.

Moving over to her mirror, she examined herself in it. "Wow… this looks incredible." She murmured. She still didn't know why she had gotten this dark version of the Wonderbolts' uniform, but it certainly looked good on her, what was the catch though?

* * *

><p>It felt like his body was on fire, burning, flaring, tumbling out of control through a raging torrent, then the sensation was gone. Blinking, Charger looked around at his new surroundings. "What the <strong>hay<strong> was that?" He asked, finally managing to locate a rather singed blue unicorn filly sitting on the ground of the apartment building they seemed to be in now. "And where'd Blaze go?"

Trixie shook her head, trying to clear it for a moment before a blonde Earth pony with an orange mane and tail gave her something to drink. Sipping it for a moment, she took the time to gather her thoughts. "I _am_ Blaze, or rather she is one of the identities I've got, Charger." She said, looking up at him. "As for what happened, that was probably the longest distance teleport I've pulled carrying any sort of weight, almost didn't have enough energy for it… I probably wouldn't have if it wasn't for the lay under that warehouse."

"The what?" Charger asked, completely confused now.

"She means the rivers of raw magic that run through Equestria, the ones that give all ponies their abilities." Carrot Top replied, letting Trixie rest for a moment. "They're the third reason I'm here, because if they get too fragmented, we get monsters or ponies, particularly unicorns, start losing their powers." She explained, flicking her tail. "Hence I came to see what was going on when we heard of some strange magical results here."

Charger frowned at the new pony. "You said third reason, what are the others?" He asked suspiciously, something about the whole conversation ringing off for some reason.

Carrot looked up at him. "I can't reveal them, but you'll find out soon enough from somepony that knows more." She replied, getting an annoyed huff from the stallion.

"She's right Charger, we can't tell you why we're here," Trixie said, lying down and watching the stallion. "Star-Dancer is not a pony you want to see the bad side of, even if he's a lot weaker in magic that either of the Princesses. I've seen him take on something that it took all six Elements of Harmony just to force out of Princess Luna, and he destroyed it. The weapons he wields ate it, and then, still hurting, he went and took on a daemon that threatened Equestria." She shifted slightly, her ears flat as she informed the stallion what her 'elder brother' could do. They weren't related by any stretch of the imagination, but he always acted like an older brother to her, the first family she had had in a long time before finding out from him that she and Twilight were sisters. "When it's time, he'll tell you what is going on himself."


End file.
